The Old Vet in the Audience

He sat in his lawn chair in his Navy unit cap and applauded respectfully. He saluted when you played the National Anthem and stood proudly when you played Anchors Aweigh. And when the concert was over, that ancient Navy veteran hobbled up to the bandstand and pestered you:

"Did you know Bill Deckler/Jack Portsworth/Ed Hallerman?"
"When did the Navy do away with/bring back crackerjacks?"
"Do they still have a band in Boston/San Francisco/Charleston?"

You needed to change back into civvies, tear down the gear, load the truck and take off. But you put up with the old guy's meandering, trying not to let him see how often you were checking your watch.

This week, at Navy Band Great Lakes' Navy Week performances in Rock Island, I asked my wife to take a few pictures. I've just perused her photos and learned something shocking:

That old Navy vet is me.

Left: Chief Tommy "One More Hill to Climb" Horner
Right: Lieutenant Patrick  Hill
Center: Over the Hill Frank Mullen

I don't know how this happened. Maybe I'm in the Twilight Zone. All I know is, I sat enthralled by the sounds of our Navy's finest and, when the show was over, there I was, harassing the band's members and leaders with those same Geriatric Questions of Old.

One difference, though: all the MUs I met--before the show, after the show, in and out of uniform, from the oboe player, to the CPOs, to the bandmaster himself--were unfailingly interested and engaged. They made me feel like a young sailor shooting the breeze with his shipmates.

Well, except for the part where the chief and the lieutenant had to help me up out of my chair.

Lucky me; I get another reunion..

This year, we extended our NMA reunion by starting on Tuesday, rather than the usual Wednesday.

This year, we liked the extended reunion.

This year, Frank Mullen gets an extended, extended reunion.

Once again, it's Navy Week in the Illinois/Iowa Quad Cities. Navy Band Great Lakes will be here all week, because this Illinois/Iowa location falls in their area of responsibility.

2015 Navy Week performance by Navy Band Great Lakes.

And I'll be here all week, because I live here. And, because listening to Navy bands fall in my area of enjoyment.

The ceremonial unit from Great Lakes knocked us out on Saturday night. This week will feature performances by the entire concert band, the brass group and the jazz and rock bands.

It'll be like another NMA reunion, only with more crackerjacks and fewer Hawaiian shirts..

Bravo Zulu, NMA

The 2019 Reunion of the Navy Musicians Association is now entered into the log book as an unqualified success. I'll have much to report: the music, the performances, the stories, the guest performers from Navy Band Great Lakes.

But not now. My wife and I will now head down to the hotel lobby, check out, say a few last goodbyes and head home.

In a day or so, I'll be back with a wrap-up.

Until we meet once more here's wishing you a happy voyage home.